She ordered pepperoni and turned on her favorite guilty-pleasure movie: a cheesy romcom in which the heroine moves to the Italian countryside, fixes up an old house, and falls for a man with questionable morals and really good shoulders.
She’d seen it twenty times. It still worked. It was a wish movie.I wanna be herkind of movie.
While she waited for her food, she grabbed the mail she’d dumped earlier on the counter. A stack of bills. Some junk. A credit card preapproval addressed to “Aisling O’Bynee.” Classy.
Then—something different.
A large, cream-colored envelope. Heavy paper. Foreign stamp.
She froze.
The return address: Liam Walsh, Solicitor – Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland.
Her heartbeat stumbled. She had family in Ireland that she didn’t know.
Her mother had been Irish, yes. But Ireland was a closed door in their house. Every time Aisling asked about it, Maeve would clam up like someone had flipped a switch. No stories. No names. No roots. Nothing. Not even before she died would she tell Aisling about what had sent her fleeing to America.
“Some things are better left in the past,” her mother would say. “You’re better off not knowing.”
But that didn’t answer Aisling’s questions about her father.
And now... Maeve was gone. No one left to ask.
She opened the envelope with trembling fingers.
Dear Miss O’Byrne,
Your grandmother, Noreen O’Byrne, passed away on March 11, 2025, and has been buried in the cemetery at Mountshannon, County Clare, Ireland. Her greatest regret was never meeting you.
Her final will & testament leaves The O’Byrne Estate to you—her only granddaughter—but under specific conditions. You must reside on the estate for six consecutive months. After that, should you choose not to remain in Ireland, you may sell the house and land.
We’ve been advised that the property is in disrepair. However, your grandmother allocated funds to begin restoring the estate. Enclosed are documents detailing access to those funds upon your arrival in Mountshannon.
If you choose not to accept the terms, the estate will be sold, and the proceeds will be donated to charity. Kindly respond within two weeks.
Sincerely,
Liam Walsh, Solicitor
Aisling sank onto the couch like her bones had turned to soup. Was this a joke? Who would play this mean-spirited trick on her?
She reread the letter.
Then again.
Could this be real?
Her grandmother, the woman her mother had never spoken of, had left her a literal estate?
The doorbell buzzed.
She grabbed some cash and opened the door. The pizza guy blinked at her, clearly uncertain whether she was the kind of woman who tipped big or started crying mid-transaction.
She paid, shut the door, and sat back down. The scent of melted cheese tried to ground her.
It didn’t work. Anestate?
She stood abruptly and padded into the bedroom, dropping to her knees in front of the old cedar trunk that held the last remnants of Maeve’s life. A trunk she’d been unable to go through for years.
